MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I hope everyone is having a fun Christmas! This is going to be a very short post because IT'S CHRISTMAS!

This manicure is just something simple I did with mostly acrylic paint. The only thing that is not paint are the studs(duh), and the red polish(Drool worthy, OPI Smitten With Mittens), and the white polish(a franken of a bunch of white polishes).

Hope you enjoy the manicure! Also, tell me what Santa brought you!

Christmas *cough* Pudding *cough* Nails......... *cough*

Uggggghhhhhh, so I felt myself coming down with a cold last week, and I did everything in my power to fight it off. Medicine, sleep, fluids, the works! And guess what? It worked! Sort of. I ended up with a very mild cold, followed by a monster cough that has left me feeling winded, and as if Freddy Krueger has been playing my throat like a mandolin. I need some tea and honey.

But you know one thing I don't need. Christmas Pudding. I find it gross, but it is something that pops into my head when I think of Christmas. So here it is on my nails. I used Milani's Chocolate sprinkles for the brown and paint for the rest.

CHRISTMAS!!!

Today I have my first post in December(I know, I know, its been a while). Today I have some Christmas nail wraps from Lady Queen.

First of all these were not made out of polish, which is fine with me. Application was easy and the same as most nail wraps. Remove clear plastic from over the design, then peel the design off from the backing, stick it on your nail, file the edges and then top coat it (These nails don't all fit me so I do have to trim them[I do it before I even take the clear plastic off], but that's ok because I have yet to meet a brand where I don't have to trim at least half the wraps).

Overall I liked the wraps, they were easy to apply, they lasted 4 days before I took them off and didn't show much signs of any wear, and they were probably the easiest wraps I have ever removed. They come off in seconds and don't leave any sticky residue.

That being said there are a few things I don't like about it. First, on the website you can't really enlarge the photo enough to see what the designs on all the fingers look like so you are taking quite the risk. And the second thing was the design. I personally didn't love it, it just felt a little to clip art-y for me.

Even with those negatives I would recommend these to people. Especially those who are new to nail wraps. You can find them here for $2.11 USD. They are inexpensive enough that if you mess them up you wont feel like you have really wasted all that much. And on top of that you can also add Varnished Valkyrie's 15% discount code 'LAKS15' to add some saving.

Ps. I hope everyone has been having a great holiday season so far!
Pps. Sorry about the cuticles :(

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! *Eye Twitches*

So for the first time ever a bunch of stores had their boxing day sales start online BEFORE boxing day. This was semi great for me because when my mother asked me what I wanted for Christmas I immediately started looking through flyers. I ended up choosing a DSLR Canon Camera bundle that was an amazing deal(The Camera, 2 lesnes, an extra battery pack and a bag). The bad part is my parents aren't all that internet savvy so I had to order. And here's he thing with boxing day online. It's exactly the same as buying in person, but you can't see the person who stole the last SD card. And once stuff is in your cart you have to queue and you aren't guaranteed anything in your cart till you get to checkout. I was super on edge when placing the order, but long story short the camera made it with me all the way to checkout (And they sold out in about 20 minutes)! WHO'S READY FOR BETTER PHOTOS and maybe vlogs 0_o.

Now let's get to the manicure!

I felt like all of my manicures have been kind of unoriginal and typical for Christmas. Not that there is anything wrong with being the same, or doing something similar to someone else. Jesse Eisenberg and Michael Cera have been doing it for years! And look how much money they have! But I wanted to have something a bit different from the typical at least for Christmas Eve.

I decided to try my hand at making some "Classy" nail art with mostly gold and black. I fist started with two coats Essence Sweet as Candy, to cover up some stains on my nails. Next I mixed my own sheer black jelly polish and used one coat.  I used a regular clear polish that I use specifically for when I'm adding small nail art pieces to my nails, that was almost done. Then I added some old black polish that was almost done. If you would like to do this you will probably have to play around a bit to get it just the way you want it, but it's super easy. Then I did the tree and the Rodolph's silhouette using China Glaze Mingle With Cringle. Finally Rudolph's nose is Barry M Blood Orange mixed with a random red glitter jelly. I should also add for the reindeer I used this tutorial from Jaunty Juil. I topped it with seche and then Essie's Matte About You.

I loved how this turned out! I hope you like it as well! I also hope everyone is having a great Christmas!!!!

 With topcoat.

"I passed through the seven levels of the Candy Cane forest"

That's a quote from the film Elf by the way. I love that movie, and last year when I watched it I may have cried(but I may not have...I did). It's just such a cheery movie and is one of the few movies I think Will Farrell is super funny in. I take my comedy seriously.

Today I'm actually doing a manicure I have done before. Candy Cane nails with a twist! I ADDED GREEN! I know exactly what you are thinking right now "Woah you are crazy! Changing the nail game like you are some sort of nail demon!" But that is the burden I must carry as a nail blogger.

So this manicure was simple. I started with a base of OPI Alpine Snow, then I used striping tape and used Barry M's Blood Orange, and Wet n Wild 416A(It's so old it has no name!). my only grievance was the fact that it smudged when I put top coat on :(

I want coffee(decaf).

(Insert clever title that includes Legos and Christmas)

I haven't been posting many Christmas manicures this year so I feel I have to remedy that ASAP!

These are some nails I did a few weeks ago when I was at a bit of a loss when coming up with ideas. I fell back on something I had done a long time ago! Lego Nails!!! But with a Christmas spin! I especially like Rudolph and his Lego nose!

If you would like to know how I did the Lego nails check out my tutorial here!

So how is everyone's Holidays going. What did you ask Santa for this year? Do you think Santa will deliver? Or do you think you think you were naughty this year and that's why Santa wont be stopping by? Do you believe in Santa?

 

If you would like you know what polishes I used please ask :)

First Holiday and Finger Paints Swatch of 2013 & The Holiday Manicure That Never Was. Plus I meet the creepiest man yet!

Creepy man story!  I haven't had a good one in a while eh?  So a couple days ago I was looking for an external hard drive for my laptop.  I was going to get one that was made for just Mac.  Instead I got one that was made for Mac and Pc, but it had to be reformatted to use with Macs.  In case reformatting it was too hard, or a pain due to my poopy laptop I knew I had to keep the receipt, just in case I had to go back and exchange it for the Mac specific hard drive.  I'm out of the store 30 second when I realized I dropped the receipt.  Since I wasn't far I decided to retrace my steps.  While looking for it I thought I saw a guy looking at me, but I was paying more attention to finding the receipt.  When I was directly in front of the store, I feel someone behind me, directly behind me.  I turn around and the guy I thought may have been looking at me was.  "Hi" he said.  He was close enough that I could feel, and smell his breath.  At that point I went into the store to try and shake him off.  As I walked into the store I turned around to see if he was still there.  He was.  And he said "Don't walk away pretty lady".  It's safe to say I walked away as fast as I could.

Now let's talk about something else!  Polish!  So this year I wasn't really crazy about any holiday polishes.  But when I got a coupon from Sally's I decided to try some of Finger Paints Polish.  This is from their LE Enchanted Winter Holiday collection.  Not only is this my first Finger Paints of the year, but it is one of my first Finger Paints of EVER!  

This is called Snow Crystals.  It's a textured sparkly, silver polish, with fine glitter and small pieces of silver hex glitter. Went on in 2 easy coat.  Unlike a lot of textured polishes it doesn't look that different when you add top coat.  I think it's because it's already so sparkly to begin with. It really does remind me of sparkling snow.  I can honestly say that I wasn't really into textured polish, but Finger Paints has for sure made me change my mind! Get it now from Sally's before it's gone!  Finger Paints retails for $5.29 USD.

Outdoor - No topcoat

 Indoor - Topcoat

Finally after wearing these for 4 days I decided to add a little Holiday Cheer to them.  I wanted to try Candy Cane nails again.  So I got out some striping tape and red polish and did my thumb.  And when I looked at it the first thing that jumped into my head was... "Eh."  I felt nothing.  It wasn't horrible or anything I just wasn't loving it.  So I decided just to take the whole thing off. 

Is there any one else out there who was on the fence about textured polish? Or are you someone who wont finish a mani, if you're not feeling it?  And I don't think I need to ask about creepy men.  I think we can all wish they didn't exist.

Nail Polish Canada Nail Art Challenge. Week 1 - Snow: When all else fails, do a Doctor Who manicure

When I was invited to do Nail Polish Canada's nail art challenge I thought "Why not?"  Normally I don't do things like these because I loose interest quickly.  But since this is once a week for 3 weeks, I think I can do it.

This week's theme is 'Snow'.  Now I know what you are thinking.  And no they don't mean Snow, the Canadian reggae sensation.  They mean solid water that is 0° or less.  As we all know by now I hate snow, it's cold and it tastes funny.   I was less than inspired.  So I thought maybe I could connect something I liked to snow.  So I thought Doctor Who ---> Snowmen made from telepathic snow!  Perfect.   Although it is kind of funny because I actually am not of fan of the episode they were in(The Snowmen).  Thought it could have been better for a Christmas episode.  Hopefully this year will be more exciting with 11 regenerating.

To do this mani I started with a base of Butter London Big Smoke.  The rest was done using China Glaze Glittering Garland, Fairy Dust, and White Ice.  Along with a white Wet n Wild(Cant find a name), Essie Pretty Edgy and acrylic paint for the Snowman's teeth.

If you like this mani.  Head on over to Nail Polish Canada and vote for me here(Yup it's a challenge where you can win things.)  Just scroll down the drop down box till you reach varnishedvalkyrie.blogspot.ca.

Is there snow where you are?

F4 - Hocus Pocus: Well worth the wait.

Well Halloween has come and gone.  And I'll be honest with you guys the one thing I will be missing will be the horror movies that are always on the television.  I love a good(or hilariously bad) horror film.

This polish that I wore today was part of F4's Halloween line last year.  I didn't wear it last year so I decided that this year I was going to wear it on Halloween for the first time.  I wanted my first time to to be special guys.  So I have been sitting on this polish for over a year and that day has finally come.  Let me tell you it was well worth the wait(OMG she used the title of the post in the post...like in movies).

I decided to go with the obnoxious look.  My base was a bright orange by Orly(I could not find the name on the mini bottle), and I used one coat of Hocus Pocus over it.  Hocus Pocus is tiny matte black glitter and pink glitter, as well as larger pieces of green and yellow glitter.  Formula was super easy to use and you could probably get this to be opaque on its own in 3 coats or so.

So do I do Christmas stuff now?

Have you tried F4 polishes?  Do you think this was worth the wait?  Do you like scary movies?  Which ones?  TELL ME!

Pumpkin Half Moons! - I hate pumpkins!

Soooooooooooooo I actually did these nails over two weeks ago and started this post maybe 10 days ago.  I ended up pushing the post back and finishing it now.

Let's start with some hard hitting truths.  I actually don't like pumpkin.  I've had one pumpkin soup that I've liked and that was it.   Actually had a pumpkin spice latte the other day.  I was in the mood for a fall drink, which generally means something apple.  But since the place I was at didn't have any apple goodness I decided to try the latte.  Wow.  The only way I can describe the flavour was a cross between horrid kids medicine, and vomit aftertaste.   No, it tasted like I had thrown up horrid kids medicine.  Ill stick to my apple cider next time.

UNLESS I don't have to ingest it.  I think that is why I ended up loving these nails.  They were super easy to do as I didn't have to be exact with them *HUZZAH*.  For my base I used China Glaze Glittering Garland, and for the pumpkins I just used acrylic paint.

Again I was super pleased with these.  What do you think?  Also does anyone have a pumpkin recipe that can convert this pumpkin hater?

With Flash, *A-AH*.

 Without Flash, *A-AH*.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

How are you guys feeling today?  Good?  Good.

Well I hope you all had a great night ringing in the new year.  This is being written at 6am(despite being scheduled for later) as I am still awake :P  I had a great time tonight.  I didn't throw up,  I didn't fall onto the hood of my fathers car when he kindly picked me, along with a gaggle of my drunk friends up when we missed the last train,  no strange man kissed me and I didn't even dry heave!

HUZZAH!

I usually party quite hard come NYE but as much fun as that it I REALLY didn't want to wake up feeling blargh.  So I just got a tad drunk, spent most of my night exercising...well playing Just Dance 4(I got tired and out of breath=exercise), trying to get a TV show to air my drunken tweets, and just in general hanging with a bunch of cool people.

This manicure actually took me a while to think up. I had so many ideas and not enough fingers yet.  But I'm happy with what I came up with.  Along with polishes(China Glaze Medallion and OPI Black Onyx) I used a combination of microbeads, striping tape, 2mm nail studs and a single rhinestone.  My biggest problem(apart from jacking up a nail when it was wet) was I was doing the year, and was starting on the 3 when I realized I had put 200.  Soooooo I had to pick them out of tacky polish which was harder than expected.  My friend said I should have left it and just called my manicure a celebration of the 10th anniversary of 2003 :P

Well I hope everyone had a great night!  What did you guys get up to?

 

This last picture was a really, really bad shot but it was perfect to show you guys something else.  See on the 2 and the 3 there are some beads that look red?  Well they are literally bleeding.  Now in real like you have to REALLY be looking to notice.  I realized the beads bled when I used my gold beads and the looked slightly less gold after I put on top coat.  But this seems to confirm it.  These are from a brand called Recollections.  Now I don't know if all brands do this so just be warned if you use coloured microbeard they may bleed.

OPI: Holiday Glow (REMIX!!!)

Well not a remix.  More like a re-swatch.  This was actually one of my first post almost a year ago.  And I decided I wanted to re-swatch it!

Holiday Glow is from the 2009 Holiday Wishes collection.  It's discontinued but I see it all the time still.  Especially at beauty supply stores.  Swatching it again I realize that this is a brownish purple. Filled with gold and I want to say copper glitter.  It applied in 3 coats and the formula was super easy to use.  Photos were taken after no cleanup.

I don't know what it is but last time I swatched it I didn't love it.  This time I do! :) And maybe it's because I'm wearing it now but I think something called Holiday Glow is perfect for leading up to Christmas. Everything kind of has that Holiday Glow to it.  People, houses, stores.  It's everywhere! It's like herpes. I can ruin any post :P

Hope you guys have an amazing Christmas!

OPI Holiday Glow

So today I have Holiday Glow from OPI's 2009 Holiday Wishes collection.  I bought it a few months ago when I just popped into a salon randomly. I wore it for the first time yesterday.  To be honest I didn't love this colour as much as I thought I would.  Don't get me wrong I think it's beautiful and I'm glad I have it. And it you know what? It looks great on me. I just wish I had been more excited about it. On a scale out of 10 this would be a 6 or a 7. It's equivalent to a satisfying but not blow my taste buds out of my mouth meal.

The colour is a shimmery, reddish, brown.  And it is full of tiny gold micro glitter.  It really does glow on the nail.  I needed 3 coats for it to be completely opaque.  And of course top coat to brings out all the pretty. Honestly the photos don't do it justice.

This colour is discontinued but I know where I live I still see it in a bunch of places.

Anyways off to the photos!